Rejection Of Housing Plan Spurs Suit

October 22, 2002|By KIM MARTINEAU; Courant Staff Writer

ENFIELD — A woman who has tried for more than two decades to build apartments, then houses, on a 31-acre property near Bridge Lane is suing the town for denying her latest application to build a subdivision called River Meadows.

The town planning and zoning commission cited concerns about traffic and drainage when it turned down Margaret Pappas' request to build 24 upscale homes at the end of Meetinghouse Lane earlier this month. But Pappas, in a lawsuit filed Monday in Hartford Superior Court, accused the commission of ignoring the merit of her case and bowing to community opposition.

``It's a prime area for residential development,'' said her Bloomfield lawyer, David Baram. ``While I understand the emotions that can arise for people when things are developed in near proximity, it's myopic of some people to think this land would never be developed.''

Pappas submitted engineering reports contending that traffic and drainage would not be a problem, and the town wetlands agency even signed off on the project in May. But about 40 of Pappas' neighbors disputed the findings, including Thomas Tyler, an Enfield lawyer and former chairman of the Democratic town committee.

The planning and zoning commission gave Pappas permission in 1986 to build 49 homes on the property, but the decision was overturned three years later by a Superior Court judge, who ruled in favor of Tyler and his neighbors who had sued the town to stop the project. The judge faulted the commission for approving the project without having the wetlands agency review the final plans.

The neighbors remain opposed to the project, citing fears about more flooded basements and more cars speeding down Bridge Lane if more houses go up.

``It's a lane,'' said Karen Hogan, a longtime Bridge Lane resident who rallied her neighbors to fight the project. ``It's not a road. It's not a street. To add another (24) houses, with two and a half cars, that's a lot more traffic than I believe the road can handle.''

Last year, Pappas received approval to build four homes nearby, including her own. But Hogan and several town officials contend that she promised at the time that she would not develop the remaining land.

Pappas referred a phone call for comment to Baram, her attorney, who said it was never his client's intent leave the land undeveloped.